Lloyd, a pupil at King’s School, Bruton, still has some way to go to emulate his famous mother, Jilly Curry, Britain’s most succesful skier who competed in two Winter Olympics , and his father, Robin Wallace, seven times British freestyle champion who competed in one Olympics.
However, his selection for a competiton where most of the other skiers were over 20 and many were of Olympic standard has helped bolster his ambition to compete in the Winter Olympics in 2018.
“I really enjoyed the competition and hope I can keep improving,” said Lloyd after returning to school. “I didn’t come last, which was nice. It was really good fun.”
Lloyd started his sporting career as a gymnast at Port Regis prep school, coming ninth in the national championships when he was 10. He gave up gymnastics at 13 when moving to Bruton, turning his attention to acrobatic skiing, first on water and now on snow.
“I enjoyed the sensation of doing flips in the air like I used to do in gymnastics. I have only done 50 training jumps on snow but 650 on water. You have to know where you are in the air. I have to know if I need to stretch or tuck in to give more rotation. I need to know when to kick out in order to land on my feet. So far, I haven’t had any serious accidents, just a couple of bruised shins.”
Lloyd heard of his selection for Britain while training at Meiringen after a family skiing holiday at the French resort of Tignes. The Canadian national coach, Nicholas Fontaine, who had helped train Lloyd with his aerial jumps on water, said the teenager had met the qualification standards during two days of training on snow.
Lloyd’s father, Robin, who coaches his son, said:"I'm really happy Lloyd has chosen to do this. He will get a lot out of it, particularly travelling and meeting athletes from other countries. As a former gymnast and now a solid skier he has the potential to go all the way."
Pip Atkinnson-Kennedy, Director of Sport at King’s Bruton, added: “This was an impressive achievement for Lloyd. He has real ability and we all looking forward to watching him fulfil his international ambitions over the next few years.”
Lloyd’s mother, Jilly Curry, won 29 World Cup medals in freestyle skiing between 1987 and 1994. She also won three World Cups. She competed in two Winter Olympics, coming fourth in the aerials competition at Albertville in 1992, and competing at Lillehammer in 1994.Jilly jumped a full-full, a double twisting double back somersault.